White Paper: Common Short Codes: Cracking The Mobile Marketing Code

By Evan Neufeld, Senior Analyst, NeuStar, Inc.

Although at an early stage when compared with more mature advertising mediums such as television, radio, print, and even the Internet, mobile is quickly emerging as an impactful advertising channel. According to industry estimates, well over one billion dollars will be spent on mobile advertising globally in 2007, and by all accounts the mobile advertising market is poised for exponential growth over the next several years.

There are several obvious reasons for this growth; the most often cited is the rate of mobile phone adoption itself, with global penetration of mobile phones on track to surpass three billion in the next few years, according to industry estimates. As is often the case with advertising, it is the lure of massive numbers of eyeballs fixed on a "third screen" that is drawing brand marketers to this medium.

The attraction here is not merely about the sheer number of devices in the marketplace, it is about the specific nature of the mobile phone as a potential marketing medium. And, like the Internet before it, the mobile phone has the potential to be an unprecedented platform for marketing. Its portable, intimate, and data-intensive nature makes the mobile device the perfect personal connecting point in an increasingly digital world.